Gay Social Network App Company Grindr Hit With Major Hack

Grindr is a gay social network that was built around mobile platforms. A hacker in Sydney learned about a vulnerability that Grindr had and exploited it. The hacker was able to get access to intimate personal chats, photos, and private information. The Grindr app allowed gay men to meet other gay men using the location-aware app enabled by GPS built into smartphones.
Grindr has over one million users across the globe. People that have sent naked photos to each other are at risk because of the hacker. The hacker was able to log in to Grindr as another user and impersonate them. The hacker now has chat logs and photos from the people that were impersonated.

This vulnerability also could be exploited in Blendr, a straight version of the app. Blendr and Grindr founder Joel Simkhai said that the apps were vulnerable and the company was rushing to release a patch to address the issues. Originally the company was waiting for a new architecture within the next few weeks, but they are now going to release an update to both apps in the next few days.

“We [do] get people trying to hack into our servers,” said Simkhai in an interview. “That’s something that I am aware of and we certainly have a team in place that are working to prevent that.”